Apparatus for baking or curing patent-leather, &amp;c.



VV. Rl SMTH. APPARATUS FOR BAKING 0R GURING PATENT LEATHER, dro.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 6, 1911.

Patented Nov. 26, 1912.

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.1 ll l |l VV. R. SMITH. APPARATUS TOE EAKING 0E GUEING PATENT LEATHER,Aw.

APPLICATION FILED DBG. 6, 1911.

lgg, Patented Nov. 26, 1912.

W. R. SMITH. APPARATUS POR BAKING 0E CURING PATENT LEATHER, &c.

APPLICATION FILED 1330.6, 1911.

1?@@596232 Patented NOV. 26, 1912.

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WILLIAM R. SMITH, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO BUFFALO LEATHER CO.,OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

APPARATUS FOR BAKING OR CUB/ING IPALIEINT-LEATHEB.,` &C.

Application iled December 6, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM R. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York,have invented Vcertain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forBaking or Curing Patent-Leather, &c., of which the following is aspecification.

This inventionrelates primarily to apparatus for baking or curing theglossy coating which is formed by applying a suitable composition to thegrain side of leather' and subjecting said coating to a suflicientdegree of heat to vulcanize or harden the same, the product being thewell lmown patent leather of commerce. The degree of heat required issuch as to injuriously affect the leather by rendering it brittle andliable to crack.

In Letters Patent of the United States No. 732,129, granted June 30,1903, I have disclosed a process of coating leather a-nd othermaterials, which consists in protecting the back side of the piece ofprepared material from heat while the coating on the front side is beingvulcanized, said process being carried out by placing the material on aprotecting bed which is adapted to prevent the injurious action of heatupon the leather, preferably by making said bed the upper side of an airchamber having means for the admission and exit of fa current of coolair, and internal means for circulating the air. I

In Letters Patent of the United States No. 774,971, dated November 15,1904, I have disclosed an apparatus for carrying out the above-mentionedprocess, the same including a baking chamber having a series ofartiicial lights capable of giving high actinic rays, and adapted to acton the coating of a piece of leather contained in said chamber in amanner equivalent to the action of solar light, the source of artificiallight shown by said patent being incandescent electric lamps. Suchlamps, while furnishing the desired actinic effect, do not materiallyadect the temperature of the air in the chamber, the main source of heatbeing independent of the lamps which do not constitute a substantialpart of the heating means.

lIlhe apparatus of the present invention' includes a series ofprotecting beds located inia casing or oven having a primary heaterlocated below the beds, the arrangement be- Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Nov. 26, 1912.

Serial No. 664,301.

ing such that air raised to a vulcanizing heat is circulated through theoven in contact with the coated surfaces of articles such .as sheets ofleather supported by the beds.

The apparatus also includes a series of gas burners emitting open flamesin contact with the circulating air, and adapted not only to direct highactinic rays upon the coated surfaces upon the beds, and thus supply anequivalent of solar light direct-ed on patent leather cured in the .openair, but also to additionally heat the air in the oven, and facilitatevulcanization, the burners collectively constituting a secondary heater.The said burners are, in accordance with my invention, supplied with airwhich is forced against the external surfaces of the burner flames tosatisfy combustion, and compensate for the lack of oxygen in the air dueto the high temperature to which it is raised, the formation of soot dueto the unsatisfied combustion being thus prevented.

The apparatus also vincludes means for causing a constant outflow ofairfrom the upper portion of the oven for the purpose of maintaining acirculation, said means hav ing provision for practically equalizing thetemperature in the upper and lower portions of the oven.

To these and other related ends the invention consists in theimprovements which I shall now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specificat-ion,Figure 1 represents a rear elevation of an apparatus embodying myinvention. Fig. 2l represents a section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3represents a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. -t represents avertical section of one of the boxes or containers hereinaftermentioned. Fig; 5 represents a section on line 5 5 of Fig. 4. Fig. Grepresents a plan View of one of the gasburners. Fig. 7 represents asection on line 7 7 of F ig. 6.

The same reference characters indicate the same or similar parts in allthe figures.

In the drawings, a represents a casin or oven of rectangular form, thewalls of wich are preferably nonconductors of heat, each wall .beingpreferably composed of an inner layer a', Fig. 5, of corrugated sheetmetal, an outer member a2 of expanded metal (represented by the heavybroken lines) at the outer side of the member a', and a filling a3 ofcement or plaster interposed between the members a and a2. One wall ofthe oven is adapted to be closed practically air tight by a suitabledoor which permits access to the interior of the oven. In the lowerportion of the oven is a primary heater preferably composed of aplurality of steam radiators 13 having suitable inlet and outlet pipesextending through opposite walls of the oven', the primary heater havingsufficient radiating surface to raise the temperature of the air in theoven to 180 F. more or less. The bottom of the'ove'n is provided withsmall openings 14, Fig. 2, for the add mission of air. Each radiatorpreferably has an air outlet pipe 15 extending through the rear wall ofthe oven and provided with a pet cock 16.

Supported by transverse bars 22 in the oven, above the primary heater,are a series of horizontal air chambers 17 arranged in a vertical tierand separated by air spaces 18,

through which the heated air has a free cirv culation'. The uppersurfaces of the air chambers constitute beds adapted. to support sheetsof coated leather, and cool air under pressure is circulated through thechambers, so that their upper surfaces are kept cool and protect theunder sides of the sheets, their upper sides which are coated withenamel being exposed to contact with the heated At the exterior of theoven is a vertical air conduit 19 which communicates with a source ofsupply of cold air such as a blower and .is vprovided with branches 2Oextending into the chambers 17, and having flaring terminals 20a, Fig.3, within the chambers. Each chamber has two air outlet pipes 21extending through the rear wall of the oven. The upper surfaces of thechambers may be provided with any suitable means for confining theleather sheets smoothly thereon.

The top of the oven is provided with an air' outlet pipe 23, for theslow escape of heated air, and the maintenance of a circulation throughthe space 18. Said pipe is preferably extended horizontally anddownwardly, as shown by Fig. 2, so that the air, which escapes throughthe downwardly extended end, is retarded sufficiently to cause a b ackpressure in the oven. The result of this is that while a constant andvery slow and gentle circulation (which is desirable) is maintained, thetemperature of the upper and lower portions of the oven is practically'equalized. The pipe 23 is valso provided with a damper 24 to regulatethe retardation and back pressure.

The gas burners, which constitute thesecondary heat-er and direct highactinic rays upon the coated surfaces of the sheets of leather, arearranged in a vertical seriesv each burner coinciding with one of theair spaces 18 and being so located that its rays extend through saidvspaces and upon the leather sheets at the lower sides thereof. Thepreferred construction of the said burners is shown by Figs. 6 and 7,each burner being composed of a casing 25 having ears 26, which aresecured to the bottoms of sheet metal boxes or containers 27, attachedto the rear wall of the oven and opening into the latter. The casing 25has an internal air chamber and a nipple28 to which is attached ahorizontal branch air pipe 29 com.-A municating with a vertical air pipeor conduit 30, there being a series of branch pipes 29 as shown by Fig.2. The vertical air convduit 30 is preferably a branch of the conduit 19and receives air from the same source of supply. The casing 25 isprovided with annular inwardly projecting seats 31, 32, forming with theburner, pillar 33 next described, an annular air chamber 34surrounding'the pillar and communicating with the nipple 28. The seats31 32 are tapered and adapted to have a tight frictional fit on tapereden` largements 3G 37 on the pillar 33. Said pillar is tubular andadapted to conduct gas, and has a refractory tip 38 of any suitablematerial such as lava, the tip having a slit or gas outlet 39. The tipmay be of any suitable construct-ion adapted to burn acetylene or otherheating and illuminating gas, which is admitted through a branchornipple 40 at the lower end of the pillar, said branch being connected bya length of flexible tubing 41 with a vertlcal gas conduit 42 havingsuitable nipples formed to connect with the series of flexible tubes 41,these constituting branches of the gas conduit.

The upper seat 31, in the burner casing 25, is provided with a series ofsmallgrooves 43, Figs. 6 and 7, which constitute air outlets adapted todeliver small jets of air up wardly against the o-uter surface of thegas flame burning at the tip 38. These air jets unite and form anannular jet surrounding the flame, and supplying sufficient oxygen tosatisfy combustion, so that a brilliant and hot flame issues from eachburner, and the formation of sootdue to unsatisfied combustion isprevented. l

I prefer to provide one gas burner for -each air space 18, the capacityofthe burners being such that they collectively raise the temperature ofthe air considerably above that imparted by the primary heater, thusfacilitating the vulcanization or curing ofi the coatings.- At the sametime, the actinic rays of light from the gas dames are directed upon thecoated surfaces of the leather sheets, withthe result above stat-ed.

The pillars 33 are .adaptedto be quickly inserted inl and removed fromthe casings 25, so that the tips 38 may be readilyclcaned and renewed,the flexible branches 41 permitting free manipulation of the pillars,and the seats and enlargement-s on the cas- E, boXes 27, behind theburners.

maaaaa The effect of the light rays is augmented y by reflectors 44,Figs. 4 and 5, placed in the Each reflector is a curved piece of sheetmetal having a bright reflecting concave inner surface.v The reflectorsare removably inserted in the boxes 27, and each is provided with ahandle v l@ 45'to facilitate its insertion and removal.

The boxes are provided with hinged inclined doors 46 at their outerends. The gas conduit 42 -is provided with a pilot burner 47 at itsupper end which is opened before the apparatus is operated to liberateany mixture of gas and air that may have accumulated in the gas conduit42.

It is obvious that the described apparatus may be used in the treatmentof materials other than patent leather.

I claim l. An apparatus of the character stated comprising, incombination, a baking chamber or oven, an air heater in the lowerportion of the oven, a series of supporting beds located above theheater and separated by spaces through which the heated air circulates,said beds being provided with means for protecting the under sides ofarticles placed upon them from injury by the heat,

and a hot air outlet at the upper portion of the oven, having means forretarding the escape of air and thereby not only'maintaining acirculation of air in the oven,

but also practically equalizing the temperature in the upper and lowerparts of the oven.

2. An apparatus of the character stated comprising, in combination, abakingv cham- 40 ber or oven, an air heater in the lower portion of theoven, a series of supporting and protecting beds located above theheater and separated by spaces through which the heated air circulates,gas burners within the oven adapted to emit open flames in contact withthe air in the oven, whereby said air is additionally heated, and meansfor supplying air to the burners to satisfy combustion, andtherebymaintain a relatively high temperature and prevent the formation ofsoot.

3. Au apparatus of the character stated comprising, in combination, abaking cham-` ber or oven, an air heater in the lower portion of theoven, a series of supporting and protecting beds located above theheater and separated by spaces through which the heated air circulates,gas burners within the oven adapted to emit open flames in contact withthe air in the oven, whereby` said air is additionally heated, means forsupplying air to the burners to satisfy combustion, maintain arelatively high temperature and prevent the formation of soot, and meansfor maintaining a circulation of air in the 65, even and for practicallyequalizing the tember or oven, an air heater in the lower portion of theoven,'a series of supporting and protecting beds located above theheater and separated by spaces through which the heat-v ed aircirculates, gas burners coinciding with the spaces between the beds andadapted to emit luminous open flames in contact with the air in theoven, and to direct rays of light upon the upper surfaces of articles onthe beds, and means for supplying air to the external surfaces of saidflames to satisfy combustion, maintain'a relatively high temperature andprevent the formation of soot.

5. An apparatus of the character stated comprising, in combination, anoven, an air heater in the lower portion of theoven, a series ofhorizontal air chambers located above the heater, the upper surfaces ofsaid chambers constituting supporting beds over which the heated aircirculates, a chambersupplying air conduit having branchesv enteringsaid chambers, air outlets being provided from the chambers to theexterior of the oven, a series of gas burners within the oven, eachhaving a gas burning tip, and a series of air passages surrounding thetip and adapted to direct air against the external surfaces of gas damesemitted by the burner tips, to maintain a relatively high temperatureand prevent the formation of soot, and a burner-supplying air conduithaving branches communicating with the air passages of the burners.

6. An apparatus of the character stated comprising,in combination, anoven, an air heater in the lower portion of the oven, a series ofhorizontal air chambers located above the heater, t-he upper surfaces ofsaid chambers constituting supporting beds over which the heated aircirculates, a chambersupplying air conduit having branches entermg saidchambers, air outlets being provided from the chambers to the exteriorof the oven, a series of gas burners wit-hin the oven, each having a gasburning tip, and a series of air passages surrounding the tip andadapted to direct air against the external surfaces of gas dames emittedby the burner tips, to maintain a relatively high temperature andprevent the formation of soot and a burner-supplying air conduit havingbranches communicating with the air passages of the burners, each burnerincluding a fixed socket and a pillar carrying the burner tip andremovable from said socket, and the branches of the burner-supplying airconduit having flexible 'portions coupled to said pillars, andpermitting the removal of the pillars from the sockets.

7. An apparatus of the character stated comprising, in combination, abaking chamrays on the surfaces of articles supported by ber or oven,having a vertical series of boxes the beds. 1o in one of its Walls, gasburners in said boxes, In testimony whereof I have affixed my reectorsremovably inserted in the boxes signature, in presence of two witnesses.behind the burners, and a series of support- WILLIAM R. SMITH.

ing beds in the oven separated by air spaces Witnesses:

which coincide with said boxes, the burners C. F. BROWN,

and reflectors being arranged to direct light F. R. COBB.

